What car got you into Mopars?

[MOPAR MADMAN]

My parents neighbor, back in the mid '70's had a '69 road runner, 440-4 speed car, he took me for a "quick" ride in it, that's what hooked me on Mopars....

 

[blue missile]

Those of you ho have read the story know this, but for the rest its all the fault of one of the valets at the building where I was living at the time.

His name was Jimmy, he had dark hair and big glasses and a Cheshire cat grin, he had a 1970 yellow Plymouth Duster with the black stripe package. It had a 340 in it that had been built to the hilt, and according to Jimmy it had belonged to an aircraft mechanic that had been drafted and sent to Vietnam. Even in my ignorance I could tell this was not your ordinary car, and was probably the reason for the grin. Jimmy spent every Saturday morning adjusting the rocker arms to make sure the solid tappets were just right. The thing Idled with such a violent lope that the antenna would rock back and forth like a conductor leading an orchestra. Once we met, we all hung out together and went for many rides in his Duster. The Duster was his daily driver, now this was not a problem in town because at that time we could buy Amaco 101 at many locations for about forty cents a gallon. But it had a 4.10 posi in the rear so he could not take it on long highway jaunts. We tried this, and every fifteen minutes or so he would have to pull over and let it cool off. For road trips we used Larry’s bug but for in town there was nothing like that duster.


One day with Jimmy driving and me in the car, we were going south on Biscayne Blvd., for what reason I can not remember, we had just stopped at a light. Next to us in a large brown boat, a Buick maybe, an old man shouted out to us “Hey it sounds like that thing needs a tune up”. You see he had to shout because Jimmy had a pair of blown cherry bombs for his mufflers. It was LOUD. Jimmy turned to him and shouted back “Hey old man, you want to race?” The old man gunned his boat and smiled. Jimmy told me to hold on tight and enjoy.
Once the turned green he punched it and pulled a wheelie half way to the next light. We looked back and the old man was still sitting at the light dazed in amazement. It was at that point that I was hooked!
You can read the entire story here:
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=48363
Andrew

 

[340_dart_power]

This was the car I learned to drive upon, and drove to High School in 1974 as a sixteen year old. It was scary fast, and ruined me as far as underpowered cars go. My Dad bought it used in 1971 with about 10,000 miles on it. It ran like a scalded dog, and was my weekend date car as a Junior in High School. Dad sold it in 1975 when he realized I was having way too much fun burning excess rubber off the rear tires.
I blame him to this day for infecting me with a deep affection for these cars, and for me buying my current A Body in 2006.

 

[Moose]

My dad, we live near a chrysler plant and well we always drove dodges, jeeps, or chryslers. The car that go me into older mopar was a flat grey 72 demon. Wish I could have bought but I was pretty young. This is what is looked like sorta

 

[Dusterdude96]

My dad has a 66 Impala SS convertible, and around a year and a half ago, I decided I wanted one too. Pretty soon I was searching all over the internet and reading the newspaper classifides like crazy looking for a project car, then my dad took me over to my uncle's garage to see of he knew of any project cars for sale I could fix and eventually drive once got my licence. There was a 73 duster there that he said might be for sale, but we could never get in touch with the owner. That was the car that got me hooked on mopars, and my search finnaly ended last christmas when there was a 70 duster unibody on a trailer in the driveway with a big bow on it:toothy10:

 

[caferacerx]

when I was around 5 my uncle totaled my grandmothers 58 chevy so she went out and got a brand new 1966 barracuda, no options, gold with a white interior, slant 6, three on the tree, but I thought it was the coolest car ever with that big wrap around back window (considering my grandfather always drove station wagons and my mom drove his hand me downs) from that point on growing up my grandmother told me "that was MY car" when I was old enough she would buy a new car and give me the barracuda, she wouldn't sell it or trade it in, IT WAS MINE! this set the wheels in motion in my head and I began to formulate a plan, out with the /6 in with a 318, out with the 3 on the tree in with a 4 on the floor, off with the 13" wheels on with a set of rally wheels like the ones on the car from "vanishing point" and of course dye the interior black, unfortunately for me before I even got the car my mom borrowed it one day and totaled it (this was around 1982, the front wheel was under the oil pan and the dash was bent in half) so when my grandmother died I decided to spend some of the money she left me to replace the car she always wanted me to have

 

[knarf]

When I turned 16 my grandfather gave me a choice of 3 cars - I picked the '72 Dart Swinger over the Chevy and Buick. Loved the /6 ever since then.

 

[Dustpan]

When I first turned 16, my dad had a used car lot. I asked him to look for a car for me to buy. One day he called me and said he got a car in that I might like, it's a convertible. My hopes were very low, as in 1967 convertibles weren't cool. I went down to the lot anyways. My dad showed it to me, it was a 63 Plymouth Sport Fury Convertible. Right away I was turned off, until I saw the hood ornament and popped the hood. Sure enough, 426 Wedge. I casually closed the hood and told my dad that I would take it.

The car that really got me hooked on Mopars was my third car (my second was a 66 Ford Fairlane GTA). In August of 1970, I decided to buy a brand new car. I looked at Torino's and Nova's (I was into small, light weight high horsepower cars) but settled on a 340 Duster that the local Plymouth Dealer had on the showroom floor. It was a 70 Duster 340, 4-speed, no power steering or brakes, bench seat. B-5 blue with B-5 blue interior. I didn't care for the whitewall tires that were on the ralley rims, but figured that would change soon enough. The car was a late production car, built in July 1970. The dealer quoted me a price of $2600 out the door, but said he would make me a deal on the orange Road Runner out back for the same price. I figured I'd take a look before sealing the deal on the Duster. It was a Hemi Orange Superbird with black vinyl top, 440, 4-speed. At that time I thought, why would I want THAT monstrosity, it won't even fit in the garage. I was into drag racing, not Nascar.
Well, the Duster that I bought was a freak. With the only mods to the car being recurving the distributor and changing jet sizes in the carb. the Duster ran high 13's in the quarter all day long, yes, even on the whitewall polyglass tires. A year later we pulled the 340 and installed a 440. We tore down the 340 to see why it was so quick. That's when we found out they had installed a 340-6 AAR motor with a 4 barrel intake and carb. at the factory. I've been a Mopar fan ever since.

This pic was taken in 1975...

 

[j-miller]

I will have to say it would be my brothers friend who had a '70 Challenger back in the late '70's or early '80's and it was the coolest thing around. By my mid teens a friend had a '72 Nova we ripped around in plus I had '75 Monza. I got away from cars again and got into trucks,until I started to hang around a couple of mopar neighbors who had a Roadrunner and Dusters back in the early 1990's. So I guess there was a variety of cars that got me started. But my Demon is my first Mopar car I own.

 

[gwhite1969]

1966...i hearD a 273 dart gt 4 speed going through the gears. I will never forget that day..had to have one..ended up 69 charger rt/se very cool. Nothing sounded like a dodge/mopar and most cars could not keep up with one. Restoring 66 dart gt at this time trying to make it as close to factory original as possible and i did run down original nos resonator. Cant wait to fire it up

 

[zigs]

I was 8 in 1958 . my dad bought a brand new Dodge D- 500 station wagon. That heavy beast would hall ***.

 

[superbee79]

when i was little my mom had a 69 super bee with a 12 second 340 and my dad had a 70 bee with a 440 that ran high 11's took that motor out and put it in a 66 valiant and it ran low 11's in the a body

 

[Sly Fox Racing]

When I was about 5 or 6 y.o. (1977, 1978) my uncles had a B3 Blue 69 340 Swinger 4-speed. My uncles were about 17 y.o. They were twins. Of course at my age then, I thought it was a race car. They had alum. slots around it. The rears were so wide they stuck out the side of the car 2 or 3 in. That was the style back then. Every time I went for ride in it, I was always telling them to go faster or asking them to do a burnout. My mother and I lived together in an apartment and we would go out to my grandparents to eat dinner once a week. My grandmother would ask one of my uncles to run to the store and get something. I would be out the door and in the Dart before my grandmother could finish the sentence. Unfortunately, my uncle Tom was driving it one night and he went off the road and rolled it. He walked away but the Dart was totaled. I remember it broke my heart and when I seen it after it had been wrecked, I cried. My other uncle had and still has a 72 340 Duster. It was bought shortly after the Dart was gone. A close friend of my uncles had and still has a 70 T/A Challenger. I rode in it too. Very fun ride. Anyways, those were the three cars that turned me on to Mopars. The Swinger was my favorite though. I miss that old car.

 

[dustoff440]

I had a beater 69 Opel Kadet in 1975 and my parents were worried that it was unreliable and always broken down. I came home from school one day and there was a low mileage /6 Gold Duster w a/c sitting in the driveway. They handed me the keys ....and the payment book. I souped the slant with a mellings cam, 340 valve springs, clifford headers and intake, 390 cfm holley and a 3.91 8 3/4 sure grip. It was a blast to drive. I twisted it too tight too many times and spun a bearing. I found a tired 70 340, rebuilt it and stuffed it in. Six months later I landed a part time job as a flunkie in a local speed shop. The guy who owned it had raced for Chrysler for years and retired and opened this speed shop. When I first went to work there the car ran 13.70's. By the time I left for college 2 years later, I was at 12.20.

 

[rp23g7]

My parents have always been a mopar family, my dad has had nothing but mopars. He bought a 64 Custom 880 and a 68 Dodge A108 new, and he has always worked on his own stuff. My neighbor also had a 67 or 68 Fury, and or good family friends had a 67 or 68 Fury Wagon we always rode in.

I got into it by watching and helping him. Kinda strange since my granddad was a huge Buick man and had a 67 and a 68 LeSaber, and my other uncle had a huge 68 Electra 225, I was too young to remember what my other grandpa drove, i think it may have been a old Falcon or Fairlane.

I may have almost been a Ford guy as my neighbor had a 67 Mercury Colony Park wagon with a 390 and my dad would give him help on it too, and we always used it for our paper routes when we were kids, what a tank, another family friend up the street always had Mustangs. We wont talk about the VW owners around us, never really understood those cars.

Nobody i remember growing up had a Chevy in our neighborhood so i never really got interested in them, thank god.

 

[Sussmad]

Dad had a 70 Charger and Mom had a 69 Sport Suburban; I was sold though when I bought my 68 Satelitte that had a three on the tree, /6; payed $500 and drove it for maybe 10 years-didn't even take such good care of it.

 

[Sport 360]

My first car at age 16 in 1978. My cousin was using it as a winter beater to get to and from work !! He was a mechanic at a Chrysler dealer and bought it from another mechanic there that had owned it since new.
It was an original, 51,000 mile, bone stock 1967 Dodge Coronet R/T, 440 Magnum, 727 column shift. Had the factory tach on the dash and a 150mph speedo.
I spent a year working on it and as you can see, the finished product was worth every minute.

Never looked back, always Mopar since !! :love7:

 

[jaimus]

Dad always had a new Mopar every 3 years,...I remember sittin in his 60 Belvedere when I was 3 or 4....

 

[Plik]

My Dad's 68 Coronet R/T

 

[plymouth67]

A 1967 Plymouth Satellite a friend of my brother had. Man! I was probably 10 or 11 and he worked up the street at a gas station and would drive by the house all the time and I would ride my bike up the street and just drool over that car. It was black with black int. had cragar ss wheels on it man that car was it for me! He always told me to tell my mom to get her check book out and he would sell it. Well years later he went away to college and the car just sat in his driveway, I was 15 and working and saving my money for a car when he told my friend to have me call him. So I excitedly ran home and called he was on a break for the hollidays and had got up and foun a note from his dad that said if you dont do something with that black car Im gonna junk it! So as the story goes I bought the car and raised alot of hell in it, sold it and have spent the last 20 yrs. tryin to get another one,until last august when I bought the one I have now. It is funny how this comes up because Im currently trying to buy the black one back from the grandson of the guy I sold it to. We will see what happens. Also got started because a buddy of mines father had a 67 hemi charger just sittin in the garage. We used to put stickers on it and play in and on that car as kids until we got old enough to kinda know better. He since then has restored the car and drives it all over but I still see the fun as a small child we had jumping all over that car.

 

[marklock]

Mr.Green lived a few houses down from me when I was 8 years old. He drove a b5 blue 68 Roadrunner with as I remember it a bench seat and pistol grip. I did not know much about cars then but this car had a huge impact on me to this day !

 

[jacksdodges]

I was driving a 62 ford 406/405 hp and it kept braking, So i went compact car shopping and bought me a new 66 Dart GT 273/235 hp 4 speed. . My first MOPAR and 45 years later iam still driving it.
I bought it Friday went to the drags the following sunday and won my first race with it. I ran a Comet Calainta.ha. I ran it hard for the next several years winning three state champ. and two mid south champs in the next four years. I still run it ever once in awhile.It was and still is a great car.

 

[Purple Haze]

Challenger

 

[limelite70]

my cousin ed pissed me off in 1998
he said sell that camaro and buy a mopar.

i sold the camaro and bought my SUPERBIRD

THE CAMARO WAS A 1997 SS LT4 30TH ANNIVERSARY
#18 OF 100 BUILT
WHITE,ORANGE DECKS,6 SPEED, 330 HORSE.
2 WINDOW STICKERS. MSRP WAS $41,688.00

 

[plumdart69]

My cousin's 73 Plymouth Duster 340 4spd plumcrazy purple.Had a blast in that car,touring in it and many hours underneath the car fixing it.Even got to drive it too,it was great.Then he sold it,grrrr,wish i had the money back then cause i would have bought it.